America, Are We All On the Same Team Here?

We give and give but the idiots in charge screw it all up. Sound familiar? Isn’t this the end result of pretty much everything we try to do in this country?

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless, compassion for their situation and the desire to help filled news reports. Many throughout this country were willing to open their homes to victims. Monetary donations as well as food, clothing and household basics were freely given. It is one thing that makes this country great. But then government agencies get involved. And we quickly have a cluster of confusion surrounding ‘who is responsible for helping who’ and rules governing ‘who is to get what’.

We have government and private organizations set up to ensure aid is given where it is needed most. But when it comes time to putting their grand plans into play human traits like ego, jealousy, greed, apathy, and laziness all prevent the plans from seeing well-intentioned results. I don’t know if there are any inter-agency power struggles taking place but there certainly is a lack of communication and oversight.

FEMA was criticized for not acting quickly enough to get on the scene to assess damages and prepare plans for aid distribution. Why were they not ready? It is the central responsibility of that agency. It is why they exist. When they finally did act by providing mobile homes for the homeless, those homes set empty in storage facilities until they rotted. When they finally did act by providing household items, those items sat in warehouses undistributed. But when the cash came out everyone was trampling over each other with their hands out for their ‘fair share’ and a lot of them were not even victims.

FEMA has guidelines in place to ensure that aid assistance is directed to where it is most needed, namely to the actual victims. These guidelines must be in place because we all know that there are low-life thieves amongst us who will lie to get something for nothing, even if it means taking away from the actual victims. Because of these scum bags, aid cannot get to where it is intended in a timely manner. It is a sad fact that we will always have to deal with these situations which is basically a lack of compassion for the victims of Katrina.

Another sad fact is that government offices and volunteer groups ended up with items that were intended for the actual victims of Katrina. Prisons in Mississippi got coffee makers, pillowcases and dinnerware; Mississippi’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks took more coffee makers, cleaning supplies and other items; Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration received household items; and colleges, volunteer fire departments and other agencies received even more. Where is the compassion for Katrina’s victims?

Insurance companies, paid handsome premiums by homeowners who thought they were covered, weaseled out of their contracts hiding behind small print and big lawyers. No compassion for Katrina’s victims can be found here.

Contractors, that should have been happy to get jobs rebuilding the many homes destroyed in this natural disaster, created their own disaster by over charging and doing shoddy work so they could hurry on to the next job site for the promise of making even more money. Still no compassion for Katrina’s victims.

FEMA says they were not informed of any qualified aid organizations in Mississippi who were authorized to receive these items so they locked the items away. Yet FEMA knew these items were needed, so why didn’t they see to it that they were distributed? This shows a clear lack of compassion for Katrina’s victims.

State agencies knew of people who needed these items and did not pressure FEMA to get these items to needy victims. No compassion here for Katrina’s victims.

FEMA says nonprofit organizations that help the needy or homeless must meet federal guidelines and register with the Mississippi's Surplus Agency yet many of these organizations claim they did not know the agency existed. Lack of communication within the state of Mississippi? Perhaps, but if everyone involved in these organizations (Mississippi's surplus agency as well as all others) were truly compassionate about fulfilling their promise of aid victims of any natural disaster then somebody should have seen to it that they were all registered just in case they were needed. This shows an obvious lack of compassion for future victims.

So where did the reported compassion for Katrina’s victims come from? The unorganized masses of citizens without affiliations to aid organizations. Everyday taxpayers who want to do something. The very people who actually give the hard aid, such as cash, food items, household items, a warm bed and a house to stay in.

Since we have seen many times that our donations are more than likely to end up in thieves pockets or sit locked up in warehouses or rot unused in padlocked fields surrounded by chain link fences topped with barbed wire, what incentive do we have to give after the next disaster?

Federal and state government has failed us again, this time in a most egregious way.

Everyone involved in all of these failures, all of this ‘business as usual’, will cover their own butts as best they can and pass the blame elsewhere.

FEMA says it is conducting an internal probe into the storage of household supplies, but we already know what the outcome will be. We have seen it too many times in past ‘internal probes’ to muster enough surprised when they come up with a token person to be shuffled to another department or give the usual ‘policy changes are being made’ answer. And news agencies will all merrily report the governments results and go on to the next popular news item without any further investigation. And no one will apply pressure to ensure these failures don’t happen in the future.

I know it is pure fantasy to think we Americans are all supposed to be working together for our collective good. But when our tax dollars are being used to devise disaster plans then I bloody well want to see results when a disaster happens. I don’t want to hear excuses and see fingers pointed and victims still living in trailers on their property after three years struggling to afford to rebuild their homes because our aid organizations and insurance companies failed them. This government used to help take care of its citizens. This government now only goes half-heartedly through the motions of pretending to care.

Is it any wonder some people will no longer give assistance to victims because our aid distribution network is fraudulent and corrupt or simply inept?

Yes, we are supposed to be on the same team but ineptitude and mismanagement of our government agencies and private organizations is destroying what used to make this country great and it is causing our compassion to fade away.

We are our own worst enemy

New Orleans. Thoughts of that town once brought forth visions of jazz clubs, Mardi Gras, Creole cooking, and laid back southern living. A very eclectic atmosphere of an unhurried lifestyle that could be found only in the Big Easy. It also reminded me of mean streets that lurked behind the party atmosphere of the French Quarter.

Since the destructive winds and flood waters that is Katrina’s legacy, we only see the mean streets part, along with the ugliness of opportunistic greed that humans bear onto one another.

Federal and state governments have put in place a network of aid organizations to assist any member of our society who has befallen the ravages of nature. Americans, out of the goodness of their hearts, freely volunteer their time, money and themselves to help cleanup after natures blind rampages.

After the initial shock of natures fury has worn off, after the volunteers have gone back to their own lives (as they must), after all of the glorious, self-indulgent political speeches are given about how we always come together in our countries moment of need, New Orleans sits with its piles of putrid rubbish, it’s broken down homes and ruined lives. After all of this, the promises have all slowly diminished into memories. This is when we see the true worth and the true value of our government agencies and the private enterprises designed to be the safety nets after such disasters. This is when humans fail each other.

The biggest offenders, in the private arena, are insurance companies. They sell you policies that promise to help you put your life back together after a disaster has struck. They say so in every advertisement they put in front of the public. But when a disaster strikes, their lawyers step in and cite all of the loopholes for reasons to not help you put your life back together. They argue, the wording was there in black and white when you signed the contract. Of course, they word it all so you easily get confused trying to decipher it, but, it is true, the wording was there when you signed it.

The second biggest offenders are contractors. Humans have come up with ingenious ways of screwing disaster victims out of their money. When a person is down and desperately needs help is the perfect time for these low-life thieves to come knocking. And they do by the thousands. They demand contracts be signed, they demand money up front, they drag their feet getting the work done, if they do it at all. Some do very shoddy work with substandard materials and the home owner is once again left with an even bigger mess when their work inevitably falls apart.

That government network of aid organizations looks good on paper. But they are managed by humans. Once again we get to see petty jealousy and graft at work. Money that is promised at the top is whittled down on its way to the people who really need it. Money is stolen by people pretending to be in need. When what is left of the money does finally get to the needy, bureaucrats tie it up at the local level by fighting over how to best spend it.

This is not a very glowing treatise of humanity. It sickens me that we put up this flowery show of how much we care, because deep down we know we are supposed to, and when an opportunity presents itself to ‘misdirect’ the money or back out of the promise, we jump on it. We go through the motions of showing we care by setting up legal avenues of funneling financial help to where it is needed. But somewhere along the way we have begun to put ourselves ahead of all others. Suddenly, our humanity to our fellow man has taken a dreadful demoralizing downturn. We can justify our actions by rationalizing that we have been slighted in some way by our government and therefore, while there is a chance of not being caught, we take the money for ourselves. We begin buying into the rationalization that if someone is willing to trust me with their money then that is their fault, I’m going to take as much as I can because I deserve it.

New Orleans is trying to rebuild itself. It is trying to rebuild itself into the image that all of us remember New Orleans to be. The saying that comes to mind is ‘You can never go back’. That old, residential New Orleans is a memory, one that needs to be updated. The downtown New Orleans, the French Quarter was not damaged as badly and can be rebuilt.

The blueprint being released Friday by city Recovery Director Ed Blakely is not as grand as the plan that was issued in March. Our grandiose plans seldom ever work out once they meet the reality of expense. Under this new, downsized plan, work would begin in the next few years on green space, health clinics, community centers, housing and libraries. Shopping centers would be redeveloped and streetscapes and storefronts spruced up. Even this more modest plan requires a very large outlay of money. Money that was promised by the federal government. Money that should actually be given to New Orleans, since it was promised, and not used to line the pockets of every politician that gets near it. Money that should be wisely spent. Money that we all know will end up paying unscrupulous contractors outrageous fees.

Lets try to show the world that community pride truly does exist. Try to prove to people like me that you can work towards the grand goal of putting New Orleans back together without further ripping off the unfortunate victims of this natural disaster. Don’t follow in the footsteps of the insurance companies and the politicians.

Katrina fraud swamps system

What the hell is wrong with these people?!

The U.S. comes to their aid and they turn around and screw over their government! It is people like this that embarrass me to call myself an American! These people should be embarrassed too if they had any shred of decency.

It wasn’t bad enough that nature took away everything most of these victims had, now other Americans have taken their best shot too. Why do we have to prey on one another? Don’t you people realize that you are stealing from yourselves when you do this? It’s your tax dollars too! Where is your self-respect, your pride?!?!

People who cheat aid programs and charities are the lowest of all human beings. Swindling people through contracts in their hour of need is just plain rotten and despicable treatment of your fellow Americans.

So far 700 people have been charged with crimes, and the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force has referred 11,000 more potential fraud cases to Homeland Security and a handful of other law enforcement agencies for investigation. The Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, identified another 1,700 open criminal cases.

Many of these cases include allegations of fake Social Security numbers or addresses. But authorities also have sought charges in more complex schemes.

In one case, prosecutors charged that two roommates in Houston sent FEMA 39 claims for assistance for the two storms and lied about living in places hit by the hurricanes. These lies were an attempt to receive $2,000 checks that FEMA sent to victims to help victims get back on their feet after the disaster. I want to know who these two lying bastards are and I want them to be branded so that everyone who ever meets them knows what filthy, thieving, low-lifes they are.

And can you believe this scum-bag, A police chief (of all people) in Independence, La., pleaded guilty to over-billing the government for overtime. Why does cheating, lying, and theft reach such heights? Can anyone answer this question? Have we no shame at all? This individuals name should be prominently published and sent to every police force in this nation and he should never work as a policeman again or in any position where he has access to other peoples money. He is a disgrace to policemen and law-abiding Americans.

And then there are those people who legitimately received their checks and did not spend it on rebuilding their homes but instead spent it on jewelry or vacations. Does it sound like these individuals were suffering? Did they really need to take our tax dollars to ease their plight?